Internet of Things

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Internet of Things (IoT) Information and Reports

The Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to fundamentally transform communications, global IT support systems, automation and business processes in virtually every industry vertical. IoT originally was manifest in machine-to-machine communications primarily for asset monitoring and logistics within a few industries such as gas and electric utilities, vending, and fleet management.

IoT is evolving to incorporate increasingly greater aspects of the business ecosystem including supply chain monitoring and control, CRM, and PLM. In addition to enhanced PLM, IoT will facilitate products as services in an “as a service” model, services within a product, and services within a service.

The greatest value in IoT will be realized through leveraging data obtained to derive useful insights and decision-making support of process improvement, automation, and development of new products and services. Mind Commerce IoT reports cover all major technology areas, solutions, and related business opportunities and market outlook by industry vertical, applications and services.Read More…

IoT Technologies, Solutions, Applications, and Industry Verticals

There is virtually no aspect of society that IoT will not impact including all consumer-oriented, enterprise, and industrial focused companies. Organizations must adapt or lose ground to competitors or perhaps fade away.

It is imperative that companies understand IoT and incorporate IoT technologies and solutions into their business strategy and plans

There are many different technologies to consider that are involved in deploying and operating IoT. Some of the core areas to consider include:

IoT Access: Wireless (mobile and fixed) and wired methods for communicating from the point of data capture, typically as a sensor deployed in the field

IoT Devices: A wide range of electronics including sensors and actuators, communications modules, gateways, and more

IoT Computing: Methods for dealing with IoT computational requirements including centralized cloud computing as well as distributed methods such as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)

IoT Data: This includes technologies and solutions in support of managing structured and unstructured IoT data and deriving insights and information

IoT Infrastructure: Includes IoT Platforms, Hardware, Software, Middleware, and IoT as a Service

IoT Operations Management: This includes many considerations such as provisioning and administrating IoT networks and devices, securing IoT networks and data, IoT data processing and intelligent decision systems, and more

IoT Privacy and Security: Includes privacy and security technologies and solutions in support of centralized and distributed infrastructure and data

IoT and Wireless: Includes cellular and non-cellular WAN, local area and personal area wireless

Compelling IoT Technologies and Solutions

Virtual Twin Technology

Virtual twinning enables a cyber object to replicate a real thing in both form and function, allowing control of real things (e.g. things in the real world such as a piece of equipment) by manipulating virtual objects in a software-constructed world.

The three primary scenarios for virtual twin technology include:

IoT Virtual-to-Real (V2R): Scenario in which virtual objects that can be provisioned and administered to interface with real objects, which will be necessary for many purposes, including monitoring and control.

IoT Real-to-Virtual (R2V): Scenario in which real-objects provide feedback, alerts, and even control of virtual objects (software programs via Software Defined Networks) and platforms (hardware and software put in place to orchestrate IoT networks and assets).

IoT Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V): Scenario in which virtual objects are involved in simulation and testing for IoT networks, including end-nodes and assets. IoT is new, and potentially dangerous (e.g. control and security issues), necessitating platforms for IoT V2V.

The above scenarios will be employed singularly and in combination across different industry verticals in accordance with their overall IoT operational readiness as well as physical-to-cyber integration on a product-by-product and/or service-by-service basis.

IoT enabled virtual twin technology will facilitate dramatic changes in a wide range of consumer, enterprise, and industrial products and services. Impacted areas cover a wide range including everything from marketing and advertising to operations and product lifecycle management.

Real-time Machine Data

While monitoring and controlling assets is a very important aspect of IoT, Mind Commerce sees data derived from IoT operations as perhaps the most value to be gained by enterprise and industrial organizations.

IoT will create enormous amounts of data, most of which will be unstructured and thus requiring big data analytics solutions for processing and ultimately facilitating improved decision making. With the implementation of computing at the edge (known as Fog Computing or Mobile Edge Computing for cellular networks), there will be the opportunity to leverage data in real-time.

Centralized computing (on premise or in the cloud) will remain important, but edge computing allows for improvements in data context (as it is localized) and freshness (as data processing may occur closer to its origination), thus providing greater relevancy and improved action-taking opportunities.

To process data in real-time at the edge, multiple technologies will be leveraged including big data tools and techniques, data analytics, and various artificial intelligence solutions. Mind Commerce covers each of these elements in its IoT reports involving data management, real-time data, and technology convergence including the following:

IoT Infrastructure

There are many different physical and functional infrastructure components involved in deploying and operating IoT networks and systems. The below sections cover a few of the more important areas to consider including IoT platforms, IoT data management infrastructure, and data orchestration/mediation infrastructure.

IoT Platforms

An important component of IoT infrastructure, IoT platforms provide operations support functions such as IoT application enablement and device administration. A more complete, but non-exhaustive, list of IoT platform functions includes:

IoT App Management

IoT Device Management

IoT Data Management

IoT Identity Management

IoT Access Management

IoT Connectivity Management

Permissions Control for all the above

Similar to other ICT infrastructure components, IoT platforms consist of software, hardware, and middleware. Some IoT platforms are purpose-specific in design and operation. Longer term, Mind Commerce sees the use of more general purpose IoT platforms that handle a multitude of required operational functions.

IoT Data Management Infrastructure

One of the important IoT functions is the continuous collection, utilization, and sharing of data about users and for users. IoT data users may be communication service providers, consumers, and/or enterprise clients.

Data storage/management is a key aspect of IoT because there will be vast amounts of data generated and harvested from enumerable IoT processes, many of which are autonomous.

IoT metadata is data about IoT data – it describes and places into context

IoT metadata describes, defines, and places into context IoT data sets. For example, there is a need for data necessary to identify, authenticate, and authorize data exchange between entities.

A specific example could be data gathered by a sensor, which can be made available to a variety of different consuming entities. Not all of the entities are entitled to the data. Therefore, the entities must be identified, authenticated (e.g. proven to be genuine), and authorized (proven to be allowed to obtain the data).

Mind Commerce also sees an emerging IoT Network Topology that incorporates many different databases, each with different roles, and many inter-dependent upon one another. Different entities within the IoT value chain will need to access data contained within these databases for a variety of purposes such as IoT device identity management and many other important functions.

However, accessing blocks of data, and/or using data elements within these databases, will be a great challenge because IoT data elements are often owned and controlled by many different parties, each of which maintain their own means of storing and encoding data. In addition IoT data owners/managers will have different business relationships with one another with varying degrees of trust. There will be a need for managing database access control that does not comprise the need for exchanging data in the most flexible and efficient means possible.

To help solve access control issues, there will be a need for authentication and authorization procedures to be managed in a manner that does not impede communications within the IoT ecosystem. Mind Commerce recommends leveraging IoT Application Programmer Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate an efficient means of supporting IoT data requests. Leveraging IoT APIs will also be an important approach to provide a programmatic and reproducible means for development of IoT data-dependent applications and services.

Mind Commerce also sees additional complications arising in the future due to the need to integrate IoT data from many data locations, types, formats, and purposes. Again, the use of IoT APIs will be important, as well as leveraging IoT metadata to simultaneously inform IoT data owners/managers and users regarding key elements, such as original source of data and indication of data status such as raw data versus processed data (e.g. transformed from its original form).

IoT Data Orchestration and Mediation Infrastructure

Orchestration is essential to many aspects of ICT infrastructure including service-oriented architecture planning, virtualization, provisioning, and converged infrastructure operation.

Orchestration is required for IoT in terms of systems, devices, applications, and services. For example, service orchestration (identification of objects/devices required for a service by a user) is important for efficient operation and seamless performance from the user’s perspective.

Mediation refers to the need for resolving communications and requests between entities within the IoT ecosystem. Mediation in IoT takes orchestration to the next level as intervention occurs between trusted and non-trusted IoT network and device entities. Non-trusted entities require IoT mediation to verify identity (authenticate), determine permissions (authorization), and account for interactions (keep a log of what has occurred).

Orchestration and mediation are both critically important IoT infrastructure functions in support of the long-term scalability for IoT networks and systems. Two technologies that are anticipated to support the evolution of these functions are Aand Blockchain.

IoT and 5G

The Fifth Generation (5G) of cellular communications introduces a new standard for communications. While a portion of this standard is concerned with new radio capabilities utilizing millimeter wave RF propagation, 5G also introduces new capabilities for IoT.

In addition, 5G allows cellular carriers to compete against non-cellular low power WAN alternatives that have made great progress in terms of commercial deployments. For example, 5G will allow IoT networks to provide much higher capacity and thereby facilitate massive expansion of IoT systems, devices, and applications.

Mind Commerce sees a high willingness to pay across many industry verticals for faster data speeds, enhanced flexibility, and improved capabilities associated with 5G based IoT.

IoT in Smart Commercial Real Estate and Residential Living Spaces

IoT supports a variety of urban, suburban, exurban, and rural infrastructure as well as residential living spaces. In urban centers, IoT supports smart city infrastructure, such as smart buildings, and related applications and services.

IoT in Smart Buildings

An intelligent building is one that is characterized as having programmable controls that act autonomously based on the environment as well as instructions related to optimizing workplace objectives such as resource optimization and work management.

Some of the primary objectives of smart buildings are to optimize enterprise resources including assets (equipment, floor space, etc.) materials used in operations, and worker productivity and longevity (e.g. efficiency, effectiveness, and well-being).

Some of the individual aspects of smart buildings include:

Smart Lighting

Smart HVAC

Smart Facility Management

Smart Workflow Management

However, there is a synergistic effect of tying together individual functional areas into an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) as a combined system approach provides common control and visibility into how one subsystem’s operation affects another.

Smart buildings leverage IoT and related technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence to provide a safer and more comfortable work environment for people as well as optimize enterprise assets.

IoT and the Smart Workplace

Leveraging intelligent building capabilities allows companies to facilitate a smarter workplace, characterized by a more efficient and effective supply chain including employees, contractors, vendors, and even customers.

Tying together the smart buildings with support for remote workers and traveling employees provides an overall smart workplace environment that seamlessly integrates employees and resources regardless of location.

IoT and Smart Homes

Intelligent residential dwellings include apartments, attached and detached homes that have reliable, high-speed internet access and equipped with IoT enabled devices. Apps and services range from programmable control of HVAC and lighting to security and entertainment.

Increasingly, many smart home apps are Do it Yourself (DIY) in nature, allowing the home owner to set-up their own customized control rules and procedures. While DIY is mostly the early adopter market in the initial stages of product introduction, smart home apps and services are compelling enough in terms of a value proposition, and easy enough in terms of installation, for most users to configure at least rudimentary controls such as turning the lights on at 6PM on weekdays.

Some smart home supporting devices utilize AI such as Amazon Echo (Alexa) and Google Home (Google Advisor) and implement voice control as the user interface. Mind Commerce covers all the above-mentioned areas and more in its IoT reports addressing smart home technologies and solutions including:

IoT in Smart Cities

A dominant global trend is migration to cities with urban population reaching approximately five billion people worldwide by 2030. With this many people living in a concentrated area, there is a need for highly efficient systems to support essential systems including food, water, sanitation, transportation, energy, living, and working facilities.

Smart cities are designed to make these essential systems more efficient as well as contribute to improvements in lifestyle for city dwellers. To accomplish these goals, smart cities involve many different technologies including broadband wireless, cloud computing, data analytics, and IoT.

Mind Commerce has produced the following IoT reports focused on smart cities:

IoT in Industry Verticals

It is important to consider the impact on various industries and individual companies. For example, IoT in Agriculture is causing a shift from traditional farm management personnel and tools towards a software-managed operation that is managed by people unskilled in traditional farming practices.

Major industries that Mind Commerce expects to be significantly impacted by IoT include: